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100 Greatest Scenes Number 2: “Put the Bunny back in the box.”

Views from the Sofa’s 100 Greatest Scenes is a list of the 100 greatest moments in the movies. This could be long introductions, moments of action or great dialogue between characters. The scenes are in no particular order and come from many different types of movies.

Unofficial action movies week meant that I had to include one of my all time favourite scenes. In a movie full of great moments, cool slow motion running, Nicolas Cage’s flowing locks and Steve Buscemi singing the creepiest version “Whole World in his Hands” you’ll ever hear, it’s the bunny and psycho-killer which takes it.

Greatest Scene Number 2: Con Air – “Put the Bunny back in the Box.”

There is so much about this scene which works. For starters, Nick Chinland as Billy Bedlam is so creepy and nasty that his hands on the possessions, letters and most importantly the present for the daughter our hero has never met, is enough to get anyone’s blood boiling.

Nick Chinland is perfectly creepy in this scene

Nicolas Cage’s courageous and righteous Cameron Po plays it cool though and the second cool moment in this scene is that all Po says is “put the bunny back in the box.” It works so well because it is delivered slowly, with his calm, southern drawl. Even when Bedlam begins to crunch up his parole letter, Po just calmly repeats the same simple (and ridiculous) sentiment.

The battle in the middle fits everything else you’ve seen in the movie. It is brutal, realistic and ends in a gruesome way: which is when the second killer line is delivered. All Nicolas Cage’s lines here are about that bunny and the final one “oh why didn’t you put the bunny back in the box” undercuts the brutal violence with the great, dark humour.

Overall, in a movie full of iconic moments, Nicolas Cage’s perfect delivery of one single line is still the scene which people remember today. Mention the bunny and most people will attempt that southern style and wrap their mouths around the unique way he calmly and surely tells Billy Bedlam to “Put the Bunny back in the box.”

Try not to mimic as you read the words: “Put the Bunny Back in the Box.”